General > General Technical Chat
Vacuum Cleaner "Horsepower"
<< < (6/7) > >>
Someone:

--- Quote from: Zero999 on March 22, 2020, 08:09:16 pm ---
--- Quote from: james_s on March 22, 2020, 07:25:41 pm ---
--- Quote from: Someone on March 22, 2020, 06:05:41 am ---
--- Quote from: james_s on March 22, 2020, 02:45:28 am ---
--- Quote from: Cyberdragon on March 22, 2020, 12:32:17 am ---It's a device that creates airflow. There are several ways of measuring it, flow volume, static pressure, exc.
--- End quote ---
Sure but which one of those do you use in order to meaningfully assess the cleaning efficacy of a vacuum cleaner? The actual performance is going to depend on many factors and a vacuum cleaner optimized to deliver high flow, high static pressure or some other number may not clean any better than one with much lower numbers. You know vacuum cleaner makers would optimize for high numbers over actual cleaning ability, I don't think it would be any more useful than the amps or horsepower.
--- End quote ---
All hail the Airwatt:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airwatt
--- End quote ---
I'm still skeptical of the usefulness of that although it's at least something. The nozzle characteristics and beater bar/brush head design has a great deal of influence on the efficacy of a vacuum cleaner for cleaning. The same vacuum cleaner can perform vastly differently connected to different brush heads and in the case of the typical domestic upright vacuum the brush head is an integral part. Two units with the same Airwatt rating may not perform anything alike.
--- End quote ---
I agree. That's one of the reaons why the EU decided to cap the maximum power consumption of vacuum cleaners and insist they meet certain performance criteria instead. It got to the point when vacuums were wasting power and contributing to climate change, rather than sucking.
--- End quote ---
On the other hand the "performance" ratings of vacuum cleaners were not well correlated to real world use:
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/vacuum-cleaners/article/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-vacuum-cleaners-energy-label
I have a commercial model cleaner that scored poorly on those ratings, but actually cleans well (along with having a very long life/low lifecycle energy cost). As mentioned matching the head/nozzle to the surface is as important as the suction.
Zero999:

--- Quote from: Someone on March 23, 2020, 12:02:34 am ---
--- Quote from: Zero999 on March 22, 2020, 08:09:16 pm ---
--- Quote from: james_s on March 22, 2020, 07:25:41 pm ---
--- Quote from: Someone on March 22, 2020, 06:05:41 am ---
--- Quote from: james_s on March 22, 2020, 02:45:28 am ---
--- Quote from: Cyberdragon on March 22, 2020, 12:32:17 am ---It's a device that creates airflow. There are several ways of measuring it, flow volume, static pressure, exc.
--- End quote ---
Sure but which one of those do you use in order to meaningfully assess the cleaning efficacy of a vacuum cleaner? The actual performance is going to depend on many factors and a vacuum cleaner optimized to deliver high flow, high static pressure or some other number may not clean any better than one with much lower numbers. You know vacuum cleaner makers would optimize for high numbers over actual cleaning ability, I don't think it would be any more useful than the amps or horsepower.
--- End quote ---
All hail the Airwatt:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airwatt
--- End quote ---
I'm still skeptical of the usefulness of that although it's at least something. The nozzle characteristics and beater bar/brush head design has a great deal of influence on the efficacy of a vacuum cleaner for cleaning. The same vacuum cleaner can perform vastly differently connected to different brush heads and in the case of the typical domestic upright vacuum the brush head is an integral part. Two units with the same Airwatt rating may not perform anything alike.
--- End quote ---
I agree. That's one of the reaons why the EU decided to cap the maximum power consumption of vacuum cleaners and insist they meet certain performance criteria instead. It got to the point when vacuums were wasting power and contributing to climate change, rather than sucking.
--- End quote ---
On the other hand the "performance" ratings of vacuum cleaners were not well correlated to real world use:
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/vacuum-cleaners/article/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-vacuum-cleaners-energy-label
I have a commercial model cleaner that scored poorly on those ratings, but actually cleans well (along with having a very long life/low lifecycle energy cost). As mentioned matching the head/nozzle to the surface is as important as the suction.

--- End quote ---
It's something which is subjective and very difficult to measure. I hope if they expand the rules to cordless vacuums, they'll mandate a standard replaceable battery and some sort of standard for attachment compatibility, would also be a good idea.
Kleinstein:
Buying a vacuum cleaner by the power consumption is a little like buying a car by the maximum fuel consumption, thinking more is better.
Those US horse power ratings really seem to suck - of is it that horses the suck  :-DD
So the essence is more like ignore those HP number.

Measuring the maximum volume and maximum pressure is at least a good approximation.
There still is a weak point: they usually measure with a new clean filter and bag. For a more realistic rating one would wave to measure after collecting a certain amount of dust, not when new.
GlennSprigg:
Interesting side notes... The Horsepower affects the 'volume' of air, for various size pipings. NOT the suction power! With the same principle, some guy up North had a new water bore, with the water table at 60 feet. He tried 'Sucking' the water using 2 very different HP pumps. I informed him that it wouldn't matter if he had a '1000' HP pump/motor, The 'best' any pump could do was to try & pull a perfect vacuum it could NOT lift water more than 33.9 feet!!  (Needs the pump at the bottom, pushing up, obviously). He still wouldn't listen!!  :o

It also surprises some people that blocking your hand over the end of a vacuum cleaner hose, makes the motor spin faster, because it's now doing virtually no work & is using less power, than when it's sucking a full air flow!  :D
Cyberdragon:

--- Quote from: Kleinstein on March 23, 2020, 10:39:59 am ---Buying a vacuum cleaner by the power consumption is a little like buying a car by the maximum fuel consumption, thinking more is better.
Those US horse power ratings really seem to suck - of is it that horses the suck  :-DD
So the essence is more like ignore those HP number.

Measuring the maximum volume and maximum pressure is at least a good approximation.
There still is a weak point: they usually measure with a new clean filter and bag. For a more realistic rating one would wave to measure after collecting a certain amount of dust, not when new.

--- End quote ---

Cyclonics (like Dyson) maintain constant airflow untill full though.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod